Jesus Made Room for Us

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2)

Before Jesus went to the cross, He spent an evening talking with His eleven closest followers, preparing them for what was about to happen. John 14 records part of what Jesus said that evening. A well-known part of that conversation is John 14:2: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).

There are two things that we need to understand about what Jesus said that night. First, the word "mansion" doesn't mean "big house," which is the way we use the word today. "Mansion" in John 14:2 means "room" or "place to live." The point that Jesus was making is this: Don't worry; there's plenty of room for all my followers to live with the Father. I'm not going back to live there alone.

To understand the second important part, we have to remember what Jesus was about to do: He was about to go to the Father. His path to the Father was difficult: He had to die, be buried, and be raised from the dead. Then He would go up in the clouds. So when Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you," He didn't mean, I'm going to heaven to start a building project. He actually meant, I'm about to die. You'll be upset, but you shouldn't be. The reason I'm dying is to make a place for you where my Father lives.

Now why does Jesus say first, "There is plenty of room," and then, I'm going to make a place for you?" Well, even though there is plenty of room for people like us to dwell with the Father, there would be no way that we could join Him, unless Jesus first made a place for each of us--by dying for us.

Jesus' work is done now. When He died and was raised from the dead, He made a place for all of His disciples, for everyone in the past and the future who would ever believe in Him.

When Jesus died, He made room for us to dwell with the Father.

My Response: » Am I one of Jesus' followers? » Have I said "no" to my sins and made Jesus my Master?

Andrew Murray

"Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.”

Born on May 9, 1828, Andrew Murray was raised a “missionary kid” in one of the most remote areas of the world – Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. When he grew up, he too would eventually become a missionary in South Africa, but not before God took him through many events and circumstances to help grow him and prepare him for his future missionary ministry.

The Murray home was a godly home. Often, on Friday nights, Andrew Murray’s father would bring the family together and read them stories of past revivals. The family would then pray for the souls of South Africa. This would go on in the Murray home for thirty years.

When Andrew Murray was 10 years old, he left with his brother, John, to study in Scotland. When he was 20, he was ordained to preach. When he returned to South Africa, he looked much younger than his age. In fact, he was so small and thin that a local farmer saw him and exclaimed, “Why, they have lent us a girl to preach to us!”

Murray may have been small physically, but he had a large and powerful ministry! He gave sixty years of his life to South Africa, wrote more than 200 books and tracts on the Christian life, and was used of God to lead South Africa into a great season of revival.

Murray is perhaps best-known for his writing on the subject of prayer. He believed wholeheartedly that prayer is the fuel for the Christian life. He once said, “Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do.”

When was the last time you prayed? Before you ate? Before you slept? The right kind of prayer is the one where the requests are thought about least and God is thought about most. Prayer is not supposed to be a list of things we want – but rather a time to talk to our God. Are you tempted to think sometimes that you probably already know what God can do? Do not let yourself limit God. Pray with faith that He knows what He is doing and that He will do the absolute best thing for His glory and for your good!

1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.

Description of God

A Light to the GentilesIsaiah 49:6 "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."

Question & Answer

What should be our response to God's Word?

Our response to the Word should be faith and obedience. Psalm 119:9 – Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

BIG Christian Word

Creation - (kree-a-shun)

The word "creation" means to make from nothing. God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and he created it to glorify himself. This means that before God began to create the universe, nothing else existed except God himself. (Genesis 1:1) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."